To All the Levels of the Abyss
by ssugrimgirl
Summary: Set at the conclusion of War of the Twins book 3 dl: legends. What exactly happend to the black mage after he sent his twin back through to Krynn. Raistlin conquers his own internal demons, and possibly the Abyss itself. 2 New chps up, short but sweet.
1. Chapter 1: Redemption

_**Chapter One**: Death is Only a Beginning_

"Go. Caramon, get out of here!" Raistlin screamed at his twin. Caramon gave his brother one last pleading look before jumping backwards through the portal. Raistlin closed the doorway behind his brother, then turned to face the Dark Queen.

Takhisis glared at the mage fully enraged by his defiance. Yet, this one had brought her so close. Right down to the last moment, her re-entrance unto Krynn had seemed certain. But then something had changed the mage's mind, now he stood in her way. This insolent human waste of a man had provoked her ire, defied her rule as well as the goddess's power. This mortal had thought to become a god, thought to replace her.

Had Takhisis not been so angered by the apparent multitude of his betrayals, the Dark Queen might have found herself perplexed or even intrigued by the apparent duality of this mage's nature. As it stood, Takhisis was too distracted by her anger to take much notice of that small detail with in the current moment.

Aided by the Staff of Magus, Raistlin stoop up the best he could. He was determined to stop Takhisis in her tracks, here in the relative safety of the Abyss, even if it meant the cost could be his own continued existence. Thoughts swirled through the mage's mind like many particles of dust stirred up by a strong wind. Nobody knew what happed when some one died in the Abyss. Raistlin was feeling completely uneasy about being the first person to find out. And reflecting on the numerous theories, which he knew all of, proved to be only a small comfort.

The black robed mage had done thorough research during the planning stages of this adventure. Raistlin had spent years pouring over all the volumes he could find regarding not only gate travel, legends surrounding the cataclysm, and stories of the gods, but the nature of the Abyss itself as well. Raistlin knew well that the popular and prominent opinion revolving around the possibility of a person in his current situation was that not only would the individual die but their very soul would be destroyed. Having no where to go, in effect the displaced soul would short circuit the system becoming vaporized ether in the process. It was the spiritual equivalent of dividing by zero.

Raistlin had never felt particularly warmed by the theory. And now preparing to be its first test subject, he hoped more then any one else, even the lone wizard who had written the sole opposing theorem, that the majority and the generally accepted were wrong. Raistlin stood firm trying not to let his fears over run him. He focused on trying to feel the magic building up inside of him, refracting it for one last spell. Raistlin's last internal thought before he let the magic over run him was that this was one hell of a long shot, but by th Abyss it better work.


	2. Chapter 2: Enigma

**_Chapter Two: _**_Passing Out of Darkness_

Takhisis Queen of Darkness, sat in her throne quietly fuming. Yet again, she had been stopped in her quest to return to and rule over Krynn. A mage of her own order had stood in her path. The broken mage laying on the raised slab before her had dared to stop her and now lay surprisingly only unconscious. This mage was an enigma. Takhisis's magic should have killed this infidel in a mere flash of pure power. Instead, somehow, the black robed wizard had survived merely falling unconscious as the power of his own spell reflected back to him combined with the magical power the goddess had unleashed.

The power overload alone should have killed the mage. It would have killed any other defiant mage or person that dared to stand in her way, of that the Dark Queen was sure. But the outcome had not been the intended pile of ashes left behind by a no longer existant soul. It had been this unconscious and frail, yet still living body. Raistlin Majere, a broken man, a broken mage, had some how survived instead of dying, instead of becoming nothing, if even just barely he had lived. Takhisis was beginning to suspect there may be more to this mage then met the eye, apparently much more. The dark queen would however contemplate the deeper implications of all of this later, for now there were other matters to tend to. Takhisis waved her hand, a slightly bored gesture, and the slab and mage were both transported away to a holding cell hidden deep with in the bowels of her castle.

Mere visual glimpses, not even thoughts, whirled through the mind of the unconscious mage. Raistlin saw the last scene of his life unfold in the cinema of his mind. He saw himself yelling at his twin to take their friends and get out of there. Raistlin watched Caramon jump backwards through the portal and saw himself close the gateway behind his brother. Then he was preparing to cast a spell, but even as he had been readying himself the dark queen had already begun to strike. He saw himself get hit by the wave of power the goddess had unleashed. Watched as his own meager spell apparently backfired as well. Raistlin saw himself die. But then he was alive, yet helpless in the court of the Dark Queen being inspected as one might look at an insect they were dissecting. One and only one realization hit Raistlin, "I shouldn't be alive right now. Yet, somehow I am. _I lived when I should have died!_"

And then he painfully began to return to consciousness. Raistlin's head pounded as if it'd just been beat in by a party of orcs, his thoughts were entirely too quiet, and he was finding himself having an overwhelming and compulsive desire to throw up. As his eyesight came back into focus and he began to see where he was, Raistlin didn't feel much better. The sheer rock walls of this cell were dank with moisture and the reddish tint to every thing suggested that he was still very much in the Abyss. A half a million curses began to form in the back of Raistlin's throat, before he realized how much of a miracle his very existence at the present moment might be. Raistlin decided that it may be better to thank his old mentor and protector the god of magic instead of cursing his present surroundings. Besides even if he couldn't remember when at the moment, Raistlin reminded himself he'd gotten out of tougher jams.

Instinctively the mage reached down to check on his pouches of spell components. Everything was still where it should be. Perhaps it had been an oversight, but not likely. Dieties did not tend towards the accidental. What was more likely was that Takhisis probably didn't see him as that much of threat. And in this instance that might be a very good thing. Raistlin figured he may just be able to use the goddess's not seeing him as much of a coninued threat to his advantage. After all he had lived when he should have died, maybe there was something else he'd never realized he could do.


	3. Chapter 3: Memories

_**Chapter Three:** An Eternity of Waiting_

Tahkisis ministered to her court still silently fuming over earlier events. There was something about that mage, something familiar that she couldn't quite place. The Goddess knew there was something more to him, but she couldn't put her finger on exactly what. An odd duality to his nature, survival instead of annihilation, nothing about the mage she currently had in her dungeon made sense. He was something else, perhaps something new.

Yet, at the same time the Dark Queen felt she had seen this all before once. Once so long ago humans would have only a faint memory or no memory of it at all, but close enough to be gnawing at the back of the goddess's mind. These were events, feelings, which had played out at least once before The goddess was intrigued by it all much more then she knew she should be. Still, there was something about this mage the one who had gone dark so quickly, had even thought to usurp her own power, this one was special. And still it was all too familiar.

Then Tahkisis made the connection. The one that had gotten away from her before, who had cheated death and thus cheated the goddess out her rightful claim to collect on his soul. It all felt so familar because it had all happened before. The desperate grasp for power, the physical weakness of the man who had grabbed for it, the gate travel were all connected because the whole thing had been orchestrated from beginning to end. It all did have that familiar flare to it. So it had been _his_ work, a rare seductive smile spread across her lips. At this moment the Dark Queen was both seductive to watch as well as dangerous.

Curiouser and curiouser this incident was quickly becoming. So, _he_ had tried again and the "lamb" _he_ lead to the slaughter, why by no means himself innocent probably thought the whole thing had been his own idea independent of any prompting. What a rude awakening it must have been when the young wizard had changed his mind and stopped playing along, decided to play the hero and save the world instead of seeking ultimate power.

The Dark Queen chuckled, after all maybe it had been the black robed wizard's idea. The young mage seemed to have so much he felt he had to prove. And yet, the mage was alive when he very clearly should have been dead. Tahkisis knew that _he_ had in fact counted on that outcome. For what ever the old fool was planing he needed that mage's soul to be completely out of the way. Well then, the goddess may yet have the upper hand. After all Majere had lived.


	4. Chapter 4: Spellbound

_**Chapter Four: **Magic and Memories_

Raistlin rose slowly, testing the strength of his legs in supporting him. Not only did his body feel weaker then normal, Raistlin also felt his own powers weren't what they should be - what they used to be. Only in it's absence did the mage realize how much he'd come to rely on the Staff of Magus over the years since it had been given to him. Raistlin thought it would be nice to have the staff right about now. It could provide some light and lend him a hand in getting up off the floor. Without the old ally, Raistlin would just have to make do.

At least he still had his spell components. Raistlin reached into a pouch and found the proper ingredient even as he was already speaking the words of magic. A soft glowing orb appeared and slightly illuminated his surroundings. Well at least now he could see better, not that seeing was really helping the situation all that much. Mostly because there really was nothing more to see then Raistlin had observed before conjuring this magical light source. "Well great. I created light." Raistlin announced to no one in particular. "And for my next trick I'll attempt to create the wonder of fire."

At least talking sarcastically into thin air gave the mage something to do, and allowed him to verbally release some of his frustrations. Raistlin looked around the now slightly more illuminated room again to see if he could find any fuel for the fire he intended to coax into existence, even magic sometimes had its limits. The cell was beyond bare. Rock floor and walls, the later of which seemed to extend infinitively upwards dissolving into the darkness beyond his field of vision. The only thing that looked like a slightly plausible solution to his current need was some damp straw that had wriggled its way up against the wall, like the leftovers of some forgotten stable.

The thought made Raistlin chuckle slightly as he heaped the fuel in promising spot towards the cells center. At least fire made by magical means did not require its fuel to be dry. Again Raistlin spoke a few words of magic and straw jumped to life suddenly quite nicely ablaze. He spoke another magic command word and the original glowing orb flicked out as if it'd been turned off at some invisible switch. Well at least now it wasn't quite so unbearable in this dungeon. But where was the Staff of Magus?


End file.
